5 Things About Email Scams You Need to Know

Email scams are nothing new. Recently, though, we have seen many come in the form of a website inquiry from a clients’ website. This approach is different than others because of the way it is received. Below are 5 things you need to be on the look-out for when it comes to email scams — IN ANY FORM.

1

The inquiry appears to be coming from a real-life person

Your first course of action upon receiving a website inquiry should be to research who it is coming from. This can be done through a quick search of their name on LinkedIn or a Google Search. Research before you respond.

2

Inspect the email address provided

Every contact form on your website should include fields for the inquirer to fill in the best ways to get in contact with them. This should ALWAYS include an email address. Asking the inquirer to provide an email address is the best way to tell if they are legitimate or if their inquiry is a scam. For example, if the request is from at a University, their email address should end in .edu.

3

Inspect the phone number provided

For example, if you happen to find the inquirer online and a phone number is provided, compare that against the one they provided in their inquiry. A phone number that doesn’t match is a major red flag.

4

Inspect the grammar structure of the inquiry

Poor grammar structure is a dead giveaway of a scam. Of course, one typo cannot be a tell tale sign. What I mean — if there are sentences and words that do not match, e.g. broken English, you should send the inquiry to your Cybersecurity team IMMEDIATELY.

5

Trust your instincts

ALWAYS trust your instincts. Your Cybersecurity department has given you the tools to pick out aspects of an email that do not quite add up. Even if there is only one red flag, send it over to your Cybersecurity department to inspect more thoroughly.